Month: September 2010

A couple of days ago I blogged about meeting a writer of science fiction whose futuristic sci-fi/speculative fiction novel sounded really interesting and who I added to my Twitter follow friends. Well, other people think she’s interesting too.  Last night Tammy Salyer (twitter @tammysalyer – but be nice or I’ll kick you in the shins) won the Action/Thriller category in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference Competition. Congratulations, Tammy! Tammy’s blog, So I Wrote This Book, will be on the blogroll as soon as I get it posted (yeah, we’re still a work in progress) and I’ve already

Anyone else seeing a bar across the top of the blog? Because I appear to be seeing things.  (Note: it wouldn’t be the first time. Just ask the unicorn, but that’s another story.) When I tried to check out the blog from a public computer in the hotel lobby this morning I saw a rectangular yellow block/bar between the links at the top of the page and the first post title. When I access from my computer, it’s not there. So, if you’re reading this, could you please do me a favor – if you’re seeing a bar, please post

Day 1 of the conference has come and gone, and although I get an F this morning on the “get up by 7am and eat breakfast every day” challenge, yesterday’s A in “act like an extrovert” more than makes up for it. I met lots of new and very interesting people, who shall remain nameless (at least for the moment), but among them were: A writer of fantasy who has a unique spin on the paranormal that blends some traditional elements of the genre with some twists I’ve never heard before. A writer of science fiction (alternate solar system, near-future timeline)

Since I’m spending the weekend at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Conference in Denver, I thought I’d write a few posts about my “Conference Challenge” list and my progress (or pathetic failures) to match up to my expectations. The reason for the challenges is simple: I am an introvert by nature, and if I don’t make a conscious effort to counter that tendency, I spend most of my time with my nose in a book –  my own or someone else’s. The reason for posting about them is twofold: first, to entertain you with my bumbling attempts to socialize myself

September 8, 1429: Jeanne, the Maid of Orleans (subsequently called Joan of Arc, though she never used the surname D’Arc during her lifetime) stood before the gates of Paris, waiting for permission to attack. During the preceding weeks, Jeanne had urged the newly crowned king, Charles the Seventh, to try and retake his capital city, which was then in the hands of the invading English and Burgundians.  Charles refused.  His cousin, Duke Philip of Burgundy, had promised to deliver the city on September 1, but despite the fact that Paris had not surrendered as promised King Charles would not attack.

I drink a lot of coffee. No, a LOT of coffee.  Four-to-six-times-twelve-ounces-a-day lot of coffee.  Some real number of pots equal to or greater than one, lot of coffee. I like it a lot. It also helps calm the essential tremor (aka benign familial tremor) I inherited from my father, so my handwriting doesn’t look quite so much like an octogenarian in a 6.5 earthquake.  Most of the time. That said, I thought I’d take the chance to procrastinate writing the synopsis for my latest work in progress share a couple links to my favorite dealers coffee providers. First: Redbird

Do you attend writers’ conferences?  If so, have you got a map?  I don’t mean a literal diagram of the conference hotel, or a list of the classes you want to attend – though you’d better get those too.  But in addition, going to conferences with a mental map of the things you’d like to achieve can make the experience much more rewarding than going without advance thought. Next week I’m heading off to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Conference in Denver.  I’ve got my plane ticket, class list, hotel reservation and business cards.  But I have something

Someone has actually made a mini barbecue out of an Altoids tin.  Not only that, they posted the instructions on Instructables so we can all make our own. This is the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid.  (Note: I also probably would have used it to burn the house down, considering my track record and tendencies.  I therefore do not recommend this for Barbies unless you happen to have Fire Truck Ken with Real Flame Extinguishing Power handy.) The teensy grill apparently works with real charcoal and will cook smores and hot dogs (“cut to size”

Earlier this evening, a couple of my Tweeps (yeah, I like using that word, even though I swore I would never become a twit myself) tweeted and retweeted comments on the topic of authors and social media.  The basic conversation had to do with whether or not participating in websites like Twitter and/or Facebook ruined an author’s mystique or helped keep contact with fans and readers.  I couldn’t condense my response into 140 characters, so I’m having a go in a slightly longer format. I think the answer is “yes.” Yes, it does diminish an author’s “mystique,” at least to